This decade of the internet has led way to newfound tactics for fans to express displeasure, protest, and be very loud about it online. And often these tactics take tools meant to share ideas and opinions and let people use them as a form ofonline harassment. A tactic that has been used frequently in the games industry for fans to rail against developers is review bombing.
Review bombing is a mass action where a large group of people will leave negative user reviews for a game, usually on either its Metacritic orSteampage. Often these review bombs are completely unrelated to the game’s content and are politically motivated or a response to a developer/publisher statement or action. Sometimes games will be review bombed before release, proving that these actions often have very little to do with the game itself and act as either a form of protest.
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Rarelypositive review bombsare a thing, like in the case ofAssassin’s Creed: Unityfollowing the Notre Dame fire, but for the most part they are fueled by angry fans who have realized that they can have their way by leaving negative reviews for a game they may or may not have played. What follows are six of the biggest review bombing controversies of the decade and the impact they had on the gaming industry.
TheMass Effect 3Ending
One of the earliest examples of review bombing making a tangible difference wasMass Effect3and the controversy surrounding its ending. When the game was released in 2012, fans of the trilogy were extremely outraged by the way Bioware wrapped up Shepard’s story. This led to backlash, online harassment of developers, and of course review bombing.
The very first instance of review bombing may be hard to nail down, but theMass Effect 3controversy marked a shift in the power dynamic between fans and developers. Bioware released theExtended Cutas a response, whichdidn’t change the ending too muchbut sent a signal to consumers that in many ways set the stage for the next decade of controversies.
TheTitan Souls"TotalBiscuit" Controversy
When indie action gameTitan Soulswas released, a Youtube controversy sent thousands of fans to the Steam store page of the game. Youtuber John ‘TotalBiscuit’ Bain, whopassed away in 2018, made a comment that the game was not for him. Andrew Gleeson, a developer and artist onTitan Souls,tweeted out: “TotalBiscuit doesn’t like TS. This is the best day" and posted a print out of TotalBiscuit’s tweet stuck to his fridge.
This led to fans of the Youtuber to take to Steam to bomb the game with negative reviews. Bain later made a statement that he did not endorse this behavior. Most of the negative reviews were later removed.
SkyrimPaid Mods Review Bombing
In 2015, Bethesda almost introduced paid mods into the Steam version ofThe Elder Scrolls V: Skryim.The idea of adding a payment system toSkyrimupset the vivacious modding community. This led to an influx of negative Steam reviews on the game, eventually causing Bethesda to rethink its decision.
This is a case where a review bombing campaign saved a game from unwanted monetization and intervention into the community. Of course, Bethesda came back in 2017 withBethesda’s Creation Club, which is the latest incarnation of a paid mods system that is now in place forSkyrimandFallout 4.
Firewatchand PewDiePie
Following PewDiePie’s 2016’s heated gaming moment, the Youtuber began posting a series ofFirewatchvideos of him playing the melancholic narrative driven indie. Sean Vanaman, developer ofFirewatch,filed a DMCA Takedownagainst PewDiePie’s channel, requesting that all hisFirewatchcontent be taken down. It stated that the company would make copyright strikes against any videos of Campo Santo projects, which led many to review bomb the game.
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The Epic Games Store andBorderlands 3
The most recent ongoing review bombing campaign is that of angry gamers vs. The Epic Games Store. Gamesexclusive to the Epic Storeor games that have timed exclusivity on the platform have been getting review bombed. On Steam, negative reviews flooded in for theBorderlandsgames right asBorderlands 3was preparing to release. Later in the year, theBorderlands 3Steam page was reviewed bombed as well. These negative reviews are just one aspect of the larger cultural outrage against Epic and the expanding marketplace of PC game launchers and platforms.
It took until earlier this year for Valve to release an official statement on how it wanted to handle review bombing.
“We’re going to identify off-topic review bombs, and remove them from the Review Score. They’re technically not a part of the game, but they are an issue for some players. In the end, we’ve decided to define them as off-topic review bombs. Our reasoning is that the ‘general’ Steam player doesn’t care as much about them, so the Review Score is more accurate if it doesn’t contain them.”
The LatestModern WarfareReview Bombing
In the latest review bombing effort, RussianCall of Dutyfans arereview bombingModern Warfarefor its depictions of the country. TheModern Warfarecampaign paints the American military as heroic and the Russians as the “bad guys.” The campaign depicts Russian soldiers committing atrocious acts of violence and goes out of its way to attribute the destructive “Highway of Death,” an American war crime against Iraq, to Russia.
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